v.] WHEAT. 55 



may be described as inferior. There are six stamens 

 inserted upon the perianth and opposite to its six seg- 

 ments, there being two whorls of three each : the three 

 outer stamens alternating with the three inner segments 



Fig. 39. Flc.;5rer of Dracaena ; a vertical section. 



of the perianth; the three inner stamens alternating with 

 the three outer stamens, consequently opposed to the 

 three inner perianth-segments, as in like manner are the 

 three outer stamens opposed to the three outer perianth- 

 segments. The pistil has a three-lobed stigma and a three- 

 celled ovary. Dracaena may be described thus : — 



Perianth inferior, gamophyllous. 

 Stamens perigynous^ hexandrous. 

 Pistil syncarpous, ovary supci'ior. 



5. Wheat. — We have here an arrangement of parts widely 

 different from that obtaining in any of the plants hitherto 

 examined. The flowers are arranged in short, broad, 

 sessile spikelets, which spikelets are disposed alternately 

 in two rows along the top of the stem, forming a dense 

 obtusely four-cornered spike. Break the entire spike in two 



